Electric meter



{No Model.) '3 Sheets-Sheet 1. J HARRIS.

ELECTRIC METER.

No. 583,900. Patented June 8,1897.

' wmaassas: I J IINVENTOR IF/447705: K a. 7%. 7M fldfl ATTORNEY 3Sheets-Sheet 2.

(No Model.)

J. HARRIS. ELECTRIC METER. No. 583,900. Patented June 8,1897.

7/ 11% 7 75. f x 75 Q O O WITNESSES: INVENTOR WWW (N0 Model.) 3She8tSSh8Bt a.

J, HARRIS.

ELEGTRIG METER.

No. 583,900. Patented June 8, 1897.

WITNESSES: INVENTOR ATTORNEY UNITED STATES PATENT FFICE.

JESSE HARRIS, OF LYNN, MASSACHUSETTS.

ELECTRIC METER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 583,900, dated June 8,1897.

Application filed November 25, 1895. Serial No. 570,061. (No model.)

To ctZZ whom. it may concern Be it known that I, JESSE HARRIS, a citizenof the United States of America, residing at Lynn, Massachusetts, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Electrical Meters; and Ido hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exactdescription of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in theart to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being hadto the accompanying drawings, and to the letters and figures ofreference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

The object of my invention is to provide a new and improved recordingwatt-hour meter for the measurement of electrical currents.

In the drawings, Figure 1 shows a front elevation of my device with aportion of the clockwork-indicator removed; Fig. 2, an edge view of thecurrent and pressure coils and the switch; Fig. 8, a side elevation ofthe arm which assists in actuating the registering device; Fig. 4;, aside elevation of a portion of the registering device andspeed-regulator; Fig. 5, a diagrammatical view of the switch open; Fig.6, a similar View showing the switch closed; Fig. 7, a similar view ofanother form of my meter; Fig. 8, a similar view of a portion of theregistering device attached to a self-winding clock; Fig. 9, a similarview of another form of a portion of my device; Fig. 10, a frontelevation of the fan-governor, enlarged to clearly show the same.

The numeral 1 shows the field-coils, and 2 a pressure-coil arranged inthe field on a shaft, so as to have a certain amount of rotation. On theshaft is a commutator 3 with 'its brushes 5, the rear brush not beingvisible in this figure. On the shaft is a coilspring 4, made fast at oneof its ends to the frame, the other end being attached to the shaft or acollet thereon, so that as the shaft rotates with the pressure-coil thespring will be wound or unwound in accordance with the direction of therotation of the pressure-coil and shaft. Connected electrically inseries with the pressure-coil is the resistance-coil 6, both of whichare connected in series acros the line.

At 7 is seen an arm swinging on a pivot S and having il-Ill(ll6lllli66l13 at its free end,

said idlerwheel havi n g its periphery in shape, preferably, of aninverted V, said idler moving lengthwise on the rollers 11 and 12 androtating on or against them when in contact with raised portion onroller 19, the movement of the arm '7 being communicated by means of atoothed segment 9 on said arm meshing with a gear 10 on the shaft onwhich the pressure-coil 2 rotates. Rollers 11 and 12, between which theidler-wheel 13 opcr ates, are a portion of the indicator, as seen inFig. 4, wherein it will be seen that roller 12 has a raised or irregularsurface, formed, preferably, by cutting away a portion of the surface,leaving said surface at one of its ends preferably, so that the idler 13when over this portion will not touch it or be rotated by it when theroller 12 rotates, and when the idler 13 is in this position it is atwhat I denominate its zero position, as seen in Fig. 4. Meshing with thegear 12' on the end of the roller 12 is a worm 15 in connection with theshaft of the armature 21. On said shaft are the revolving fans 1e 14-,connected by arms to a movable sleeve or collet 17, which moves orrotates with the central pivot 16, which is pivoted in the frame 15,then pass ing through the opening in the frame 15, which forms a portionof said shaft, the arms of the fan and also the collet being limited intheir movements on the shaft by the sides of said frame.

On the shaft and connected with the collet or sleeve 17 at one of itsends is a spring 16', the other end being made fast, preferably, to theframe 15, so that as the fan-blades 14: 14 are acted upon by the air asthey rotate said spring will balance the air-p'ressure, or if the speedbe increased the air-pressure will overbalance the spring. 011 the saidshaft is a flat spring a, preferably partly coiled about aninsulating-ring I), set on the shaft, the insulating-ring not'affectingsaid spring, it being coiled about it for convenience only, said springat having one of its ends standing out at practically right angles tothe shaft and making contact with the car 14 on the fanblade 14. Infront of the projecting end of spring a is a contact-piece 0, preferablyin form of a small pin or wire, said pin a passing through theinsulation b, preferably, and behind and insulated from a metal ring d,

also set on the shaft, and is electrically connected to a second metalring 6, set also on the shaft below ring (Z, said rings d and e beinginsulated from each other. Below the rings cl and e and insulatedtherefrom is the commutator f of the motor. The flat spring a iselectricallyconnected with the ring (1 by m eans,preferably,of the screwd. The brush 9 is connected with ring d and the commut-ator, while brushh is connected with ring a and the commutator. By this arrangement I amable to short-circuit the armature as needed. \Vhile I have shown thismethod of short-circuiting the armature, I do not c011- fine myselfthereto, as it may be done in many ways that will suggest themselvesreadily to electricians.

In Fig. 2 I show an arm 7 in cross-section and a switch consisting of astationary contact, preferably 23, and a movable contact 22, saidcontacts being arranged so that when the arm 7 moves laterally to itszero position it will strike the movable spring-contact 22 and force itaway from contact 23, and the motorcircuit will be opened, and when thearm 7 recedes from the contact 22 its resilience causes it to makecont-act with stationarycontact 23, when the motor-circuit will beclosed. While I have'shown this form of switch, I do not confine myselfthereto, as other forms will readily present themselves to those skilledin the art.

In Fig. 7 I show diagrammaticallyanother form of my device, in which thecoil-spring L is replaced by a spring 1, connected to pressure-coil 2 atone end, while the other end is made fast to a stud, so as to suspendcoil 2. The arm 7 is made fast to the coil 2, and as the torque of thecoil 2 causes a torsion strain or twist in spring 4: the arm 7 is causedto have a lateral motion, causing idler 13 to move lengthwise of andbetween the rollers 11 and 12,while the motor causes worm 15 to operate,thus operating roller 11, producing the results hereinafter described.

In Fig. 8 I show a self-winding clock let in connection with worm 15,whereby roller 12 is rotated, thus operating the registering device. InFig. 9 I show another substitute for the springs 4: and 4:, consistingof a bar 0", attached to a stud s and having cords or wires or otherflexible connections i, connected to a bar a, said bar a being connectedto pressure-coil, forming what is commonly known as a bifilarsuspension. To the stem U is attached the arm 7 by a rotatable sleeve,and as the torque of the coil 2 produces a torsion on the rod 1) thecords or wires t are turned or partly twisted, raising the coil 2, thusoffering a resistance to the torque of the coil, the arm 7, having aslot to therein, in which moves a pin or wire y, connected to the barto, causing a lateral movement in the arm 7 without lifting it out ofits position.

The operation is as follows: Referring to Fig. 1, when the currentpasses through fieldcoil 1 and pressure-coil 2 a torque is produced incoil 2, which revolves it against the spring 1, the gear 10 on the shaftof the pressure-coil 2 meshing with the toothed segment 9, cansing thearm 7 to move laterally between the rollers 11 and 12 and tomove awayfrom its zero-point, said point being at that point where the idler 13does not come in contact with the raised or irregular surfaces of theroller '12 and is at that point shown in Fig. 1 where idler 13 is seento rest in that figure. As the arm 7 and idler 13 move away from thezero-point idler 13 comes in contact with the irregular surface ofroller 12, when the idler is revolved and also pressed against the undersurface of roller 11, and as the journal of that roller is set in a slotinstead of a circular opening it has a slight vertical upward anddownward movement, allowing it to accommodate itself to the upwardpressure of idler 13. As idler 13 presses against roller 11 and revolvesbecause of the revolutions of roller 12, roller 11 rotates andcommunicates its motion to the train of wheels in the recordingmechanism, causing the hands to rotate and shows the result on the faceof the dial precisely as the record is shown in a common gasmeter.Motion is communicated to roller 12 by means of gear 12, meshing withthe worm 15, said worm being driven by the motor formed by its fields 20and arma ture 21. As motion is communicated to worm 15 it is alsocommunicated to fan-blades 14C 141, causing them to revolve, and as theyso revolve they meet resistance from the air, and when a certain speedis acquired the airpressure will overcome the spring 16' and force thecar 141 of blade let against the contact-spring a and make contactbetween spring a and pin 0, thus controlling the speed of the motor, thecurrent passing when this contact is made through brush g to ring dthrough screw cl to spring a a, through con tact to pin a, to metal ringa, to brush h, then through switch (seen in Fig. 6) to field-coils 20,to the opposite side of the line. The fan by thus being made to make andbreak the contact between a and 0 controls the speed of the motor andmakes its speed practicallyconstant. As the arm 7 moves laterally fromits zero position it leaves spring 22 of the switch and allows it tomake contact with contact 23 of said switch, thus completing themotor-circuit, and when the arm 7 moves against spring 22 it opens themotor-circuit, thus starting and stopping the motor, and as the arm 7 ismoved to and from said spring 22 because of the torque of the armature 2and resistance of spring 4 whereby the torque is balanced a record ofthe balancing of the torque is made on the registering device reduced towatthours. In Fig. 7, 2 shows a simple helix used as a pressure-coilinstead of the armature 2, as shown in Fig. 1. When the selfrwindingclock 14 is used, it takes the place of the mo tor and fan-governorshown in Fig. 1.

Havingdescribed my invention so that those skilled in the art to whichit appertains may know how to make and use the same, what I claim, anddesire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. A speed-governor for an electric meter consisting of a rotatable fanconnected to a spindle and a source of power, and arranged to turn onthe spindle by reason of the force of the air-pressure on the fan-bladesas the fan and spindle revolve, the spindle having a movablecontact-piece arranged to revolve with the spindle, the fan-blades beingarranged to press against the movable contactpiece and operate the sameand to recede therefrom at predetermined speeds in order that theelectric circuit may be opened and closed and the speed governedsubstantially as described.

2. A speed-governor for an electric meter consisting of a rotatable fanconnected to a source of power and a movable contact arranged so that atpredetermined speeds the fan will press against the movable contact andoperate it and recede therefrom whereby the electric circuit is openedand closed and the speed governed substantially as described.

In an electric meter the combination of motor into and out of circuit atpredetermined speeds, in order that the current may be controlled, themotor governed and the speed kept practically constant substantially asdescribed.

i. An electric meter consisting of a system of coils arranged at anangle to each other and being free to move, said movement being limitedby a resilient device and having a movable fan-like device connected toa source of power and a movable contact arranged to be operated by thefan-like device that the circuit may be automatically opened and closedsubstantially as described.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two Witnesses.

JESSE HARRIS.

Witnesses:

HARRISON NEWHALL, LEON E. THOMPSON.

